John Chidley Hill.com A blog about reading, writing, pop culture and sports.

28Oct/106

Top 10 Sports Movies of All Time

As I mentioned yesterday, my Top 10 sports books was so popular that I’ve decided to make similar lists a regular feature on this blog. I was challenged by a few people to come up with the ten best sports movies.

Like last week’s effort, I decided to limit myself. I chose to not include any documentaries – When We Were Kings, Ken Burns’ Baseball and half of ESPN’s 30-for-30 series would force aside some very worthy films – but it should be noted that most of these are based on real people or events.

So, roughly in order of preference, here we go:

Jerry Maguire – This movie stands apart from the other entries on the list because its protagonist isn’t about an athlete or a coach. In fact, there’s hardly any football in the entire film, even if one of the main characters is a professional football player. Instead, Jerry Maguire looks at the culture surrounding sports. Whether it’s Jay Mohr’s conniving agent or Cuba Gooding Jr.’s selfish prima donna wide receiver, this movie does a better job than most of exposing the greedy and egotistical culture that’s developed around modern sports.

The Replacements – Gene Hackman makes the first of two appearances on this list as Jimmy McGinty, the coach of the fictional Washington Sentinels. As the unnamed professional football league that the Sentinels are a part of goes on strike, the owners decide to hire scab players to replace their regular players. Just like every sports movie ever, McGinty puts together a group of ragtag athletes. His replacements are led by dreamboat quarterback Shane Falco (played by real-life dreamboat Keanu Reeves). Hilarity ensues as the Sentinels come together as a team. There’s lots of memorable scenes, including Falco’s big speech in the climactic game, and when the twin offensive linemen shoot a rivals car full of holes. My favourite, however, is the dance scene:

Mighty Ducks – Quack! Quack! Quack! Many of these selections spawned their own franchises. Slap Shot, Rocky, Friday Night Lights, all have sequels or spin-offs. But Mighty Ducks is the only one on this list that was so successful that it earned its own professional sports teams. Yeah, it’s a typical kids’ movie with Emilio Estevez teaching his group of misfit hockey players important life lessons while he learns from them. But it’s still a great movie, even if the flying V is a ridiculous strategy.

A League of Their Own – Based on the real life experiences of veterans of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, Penny Marshall’s dramedy sheds some light on a chapter of baseball history that is often overlooked. Tom Hanks excels as Jim Dugan, a thinly veiled stand-in for Boston Red Sox great Jimmie Foxx, the alcoholic and acerbic manager of the Rockford Peaches. Even terrible actresses like Madonna and Rosie O’Donnell can’t slow this movie down, and, of course, it gave birth to one of the best lines ever uttered about baseball:

Rocky – Critically acclaimed when it came out in 1976 – winning the Academy Award for Best Picture that year – Sylvester Stallone’s masterpiece is surprisingly resilient. Although some of the lustre was rubbed off thanks to too many sequels, watched by itself Rocky is incredible. Although a lot of Stallone’s iconic scenes have become cliché, his screenplay still stands as a classic. Fortunately, the sixth and final entry in the series, Rocky Balboa, added some polish to the series and capped one of the most iconic stories in film history.

Slap Shot – When I was travelling regularly with the University of Toronto Varsity Blues lacrosse team Slap Shot was a staple of every bus ride. Literally every other movie we’d watch was Slap Shot. Other films were just used to raise our appreciation of this Paul Newman vehicle, the best hockey movie ever made. Slap Shot is filled with hilarious vignettes of life as a professional hockey player, but to me it’s the interactions between the players on the Charlestown Chiefs that make this movie. Director George Roy Hill perfectly captures what the downtime is like on any high-level sports team.

Hoosiers – The story of the 1951-52 Hickory High basketball team and their journey to the Indiana state championship is loosely based on the 1954 Milan High School basketball team that managed the exact same feat, despite the school’s small enrolment of 191. Gene Hackman is excellent as Coach Dale, the controversial coach of the team. His lessons about consistency and focusing on fundamentals is inspiring and the movie eminently watchable. One of the best things about this movie, however, is how subtle some of the character work is. In particular, star player Jimmy Chitwood’s narrative is handled with great  restraint.

Friday Night Lights – Last week I wrote about the incredible book by H.G. Bissinger that inspired this movie. The film is also excellent and stays remarkably close to the source material. Billy Bob Thornton’s performance, in particular his speech about perfection, is magnificent. Director Peter Berg’s decision to use the soundtrack by Explosions in the Sky and moody, washed-out video creates an almost unbearable tension throughout the movie as the young football players of Permian High School struggle under the pressure of their small town’s expectations.

Any Given Sunday – Another artsy football movie, Oliver Stone’s Any Given Sunday follows a season with the fictional Miami Sharks. Although it relies heavily on pretentious cinematography – including silhouetted cheerleaders dancing in front of a lightning storm – the writing and acting are as tight as a drum. Al Pacino’s penultimate speech about life being a game of inches is, hands down, the best motivational speech in movie history. Stone handles the themes of mortality and morality with incredible aplomb, despite the heavy-handed camera work.

Bull Durham – Another classic baseball movie, Bull Durham is the first, and best, piece of the Kevin Costner baseball trilogy - sorry folks, For the Love of the Game isn’t as strong and Fields of Dreams is overly sentimental. Bull Durham, however, is just about perfect. From the characters on the team and their superstitions to Crash Davis’ words of wisdom, this film expresses the aura of baseball better than anything short of the game itself. There are few movies that can be watched again and again without losing any magic, and Bull Durham is in that select number.

As always, I'd love to know what your top 10 is, and why. Please, go ahead and comment below. Also, if there's a top 10 list you'd like me to write, shoot me an email or post a comment.

23Feb/103

Three ice dancing performances I’d like to see

Like many Canadians, I was thrilled by Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir’s gold medal ice dance performance on Monday night.

I would never call myself a figure skating or ice dancing fan – I find that too often the judge’s decisions are political – but I was impressed with the athleticism and technique of all the dancers in the competition.

What did not impress me was their lack of creativity or originality. Most of the performances bled together. Virtue and Moir stood above the rest of the competition because they didn’t rely on clichéd music like the themes from the Phantom of the Opera or Requiem for a Dream. They weren’t covered with sequins and feathers. Their performance truly distinguished them from the rest of the pack.

As I was watching all the performances roll off the assembly line, I couldn’t help but come up with ideas of my own. Not necessarily for me to perform since I’m a terrible skater, but ideas that talented ice dancers could use to blow away the judges and competition. Here are my top three:

Super Mario Brothers -Mario and Princess Peach.
The pinnacle of video game romance, Super Mario’s quest to save his true love, Princess Peach, is timeless and crosses all cultures. Their tale of love denied has ties to Japan, Italy and North America and would undoubtedly hold appeal to judges from many nations.

The music is all there too. Obviously, the symphonic version of the Mario theme is a good starting place, but if the performers want to make things a little more contemporary theys can break it down and use a medley that incorporates DJ Clue’s remix of the classic 8-bit song.

The costumes are easy too – the male dancer would wear red overalls, a red newsie cap, white gloves and a giant fake moustache. Princess Peach’s costume is even easier, since most figure skaters already wear giant pink dresses and crowns. The one adjustment is that for safety reasons the ice dancer’s costume would need a shorter skirt then the Princess’ traditional ball gown.

After all that preparation the performance will write itself. Trust me.

Back to the Future – Marty McFly and Doc Brown.
Not a love story necessarily, but Marty McFly and Doc Brown have one of the best bromances in movie history. 

The strength of the Back to the Future pairing is that the music would blow the competition away. Nothing could top Huey Lewis’ "Power of Love" for the short program (complete with air guitar) followed by Alan Silvestri’s Back to the Future theme for the long performance.

The biggest problem with this program, of course, is that both characters are male. However, a petite brunette with short cropped hair could easily play Marty McFly. Tight jeans, a denim shirt and McFly’s trademark red vest would complete the ensemble. A big white wig and flowing lab coat would transform the male dancer into Doc Brown, and your theme is complete.

Liberal use of a fog machine, and perhaps a Delorian door for the ice pad’s entrance would complete the performance and a much needed sense of adventure to the proceedings. I have it on good authority that you don’t need money, you don’t need fame, you don’t need no credit card to ride the Olympics train.

Star Wars – C3PO and R2D2
Yes, there are more traditional romantic pairings like Han Solo and Leia Organa, while Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia could appeal to those icky brother-sister ice pairs like Russians Roman and Alexandra Zaretsky or Brits Sinead and John Kerr.  However, for my money, the best couple in the Star Wars movies are C3PO and R2D2. They stick together no matter what and have exceptional teamwork. Aren’t those ideal traits for an Olympic-calibre performance?

Also, the music is a slam dunk. John Williams’ score from the Star Wars movies is one of the most recognizable pieces of classical work and is suitably epic for an ice dancing performance.

I would make my performance an interpretation of the Droid’s journey, beginning with their escape from the Blockade Runner in A New Hope. A bold coach might even incorporate Leia’s desperate holographic message to the Rebel Alliance. As the dancers flee from corner to corner of the ice, extras in Stormtrooper outfits could emerge from the audience to wildly fire blasters at them. It’d be exciting and allow the dancers to display all their most graceful tricks.

The one drawback of this piece would be the construction of R2D2’s outfit. However, I’m sure a talented costume designer could tackle the project and the result would be more dignified then dressing as a tree or performing to Linkin Park’s "Crawling".

13Jan/104

Citizen Kane Syndrome

Orson Welles in Citizen KaneAccording to the American Film Institute, Citizen Kane is the greatest movie ever made, but when was the last time you saw it on TV? Only high-brow movie channels like Turner Classic Movies or maybe Bravo! will show it, and likely not very often. You’ll never see it as a Fox Saturday matinee or as part of Peachtree’s weekend movie marathon.

Why is that? It’s indisputably great, having influenced just about every film made after it and changing the way people saw cinema. But plunk your average movie-goer down in front of Orson Welles’ opus, they’ll likely fall asleep or try switching the channel.

This is what I like to call Citizen Kane Syndrome.

CKS afflicts many movies, but Citizen Kane has all the symptoms: an older, influential work that has become a fixture in culture. It lost its lustre because of its cultural significance.

Contemporary viewers don’t enjoy it because they’re already familiar with many of the artistic touches that made the film brilliant.

Most people don’t realize it but Citizen Kane was the first film to show the ceiling in a room. It’s true. Cameras had never been canted to such a degree that the roof was visible – until 1941 when Citizen Kane came out. It was the first movie to use deep focus throughout. It was pioneered special effects make-up. And on and on.

At the time, these were exciting new narrative techniques. Today? Mehn.

There are countless other aspects of the film that, at the time, were revolutionary, but today are taken for granted.

And, really, how thrilling can a plot twist be when Rosebud’s identity is revealed in a spoof on Tiny Toons?

It happens in every corner of pop culture too.

Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s incredible run on Fantastic Four launched the Marvel Age. But some of its magic has been lost as the medium and craft have built upon that foundation.

The Beatles were once bigger than Jesus, but now fans of rock music expect faster beats, more complex chords and higher production values.

In Cold Blood remains a chilling look at two murderers, but its impact as creative non-fiction is not what it once was, since the New Journalists (and the New New Journalists, for that matter) have followed Truman Capote’s lead.

CKS forces media consumers into the tricky position of having to consider the historical context of the art not just politically or economically, but creatively as well. This can be a taxing requirement, and it only takes away from the viewing experience.

At the same time, there are some films, books and bands which remain timeless. Shakespeare is the easy example, but the Wizard of Oz (the movie, not the novel) also comes to mind.